The transmission of religion from parent to child is often anticipated by many religious parents. However, whether or not the adult child continues to practice their family's religion after leaving their childhood home is their personal decision. The number of emerging adults in the U.S. who depart from their childhood religion after leaving their family of origin continues to increase. The current literature surrounding Religion/Spirituality points to the importance of children maintaining religious autonomy to develop a deeper relationship with religion in adulthood. The following study intends to determine the likelihood of emerging adults continuing to affiliate with their family’s religion depending on whether they perceive religion as mandated or voluntary in their family of origin. Preliminary data has been collected through the university’s SONA system, a database in the Department of Psychology that allows students to sign up and participate in university-based research. Emerging adults, ages 18-26 years old, at the University of Nevada, Reno (N= 804) participated in a mixed-methods study to communicate their childhood experiences with religion. In addition, they report on information comparing the way their experiences set the tone for their current relationship with religion. We aim to diminish a gap in present literature by particularly detailing adult children’s perception of religious practices.

My research topic is within the discipline of the History of Religion. The scope of the research is the study of witchcraft and its relationship to Scots-Presbyterian Christians within the Appalachian mountain range. This relationship is presented through the literary works of Manly Wade Wellman, a popular pulp magazine writer in the 50s and 60s, and his fictitious character John the Balladeer. The character is solidly rooted within the socio-economic environment of Appalachia and although not a learned individual, he is a repository of folklore and religious traditions. Belief in witchcraft was widespread in Appalachia and folklore has a significant role to play in the recreation of those beliefs. These beliefs began to be lost with the inception of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s. The TVA bridged the divide between the more isolated and inward-looking Appalachian region and the outside world through electricity. But as radios, telephones and so forth became common, many of the indigenous folk traditions disappeared. A native of the region, Wellman’s stories preserved many Appalachian beliefs that have since been lost and brought into high relief the inherent moral ambiguity that existed between folk beliefs and the strict form of Presbyterian Christianity that had been brought to Appalachia by its Scots-Irish immigrants. In doing so, he not only preserves many now forgotten Appalachian folk beliefs, but also serves as a window into the larger question of how the people of Appalachia reconciled folk beliefs with a particularly strict Christian belief system.

This research project explores how churches in the Austin metropolitan area responded to challenges of COVID-19 by drawing on technology to meet the needs of their congregation. As the majority of places of worship were unable to congregate as communities for worship, fellowship and service, churches--just as occurred in other areas of society during the pandemic--turned to technology for communication and synchronous gatherings. Some churches already had some facility with and use of technology pre-pandemic but other churches had a technological learning curve. Thus, one hypothesis explored in this study is whether in-person church gatherings transitioning online came with challenges to the church body, church leadership, and church volunteers as the need for labor, technology, and outreach towards the congregation grew. The project is rooted in case studies of three non-denominational churches in Austin, which are distinctive in terms of size; these churches range from medium (approximately 300 persons) to large (approximately 2,000 persons) in terms of attendees. Through interviews with pastors at these churches and surveys with church leadership, the study explores what these respective churches learned about their technological needs and capabilities through the course of the pandemic in response to changing worship experiences during the pandemic.